[STORY] What she saw that night was only the beginning
What She Saw That Night Was Only the Beginning
Chapter One: The Room That Wouldn’t Answer
“Doctor, how is my wife?”
“We’re doing everything we can to stabilize her.”
“And the baby — is the baby alright?”
“Please, give us a few minutes.”
Inside the delivery room, Mélisande fought for breath. “I can’t breathe.”
“Mélisande, stay with us. Breathe slowly.”
Then, suddenly, the pain vanished.
“Doctor, she was responding—”
“I know. Keep going. Her heart is stopping. Can you hear me? I’m here. Keep going. Stay focused.”
“Alright. Still no vitals. Come on, once more.”
Calm down. You know how to do this. Why isn’t it working? This isn’t normal. What have I triggered this time? What have I gotten myself into again? Why can’t anyone hear me? Why can’t I get back?
Some things seem extraordinary — right up until the day they become impossible to control.
Chapter Two: The Woman Whose Feet Never Touched the Ground
Mélisande lived with her aunt Doris, in a quiet neighborhood where almost everyone knew each other.
She was walking home one evening after buying a few groceries when she noticed a woman who had just passed her on the street. It was Jasmine. Mélisande had barely ever spoken to her, but she knew her by sight. She kept walking.
Then something caught her attention.
“What is that?” she murmured to herself. At first, she assumed it was simply the way Jasmine’s long dress swayed with each step. But after a moment, she slowed down, her eyes drifting to the woman’s legs. Something about it seemed wrong.
Jasmine kept moving forward. And yet her feet appeared to remain suspended just above the ground.
Mélisande narrowed her eyes. Jasmine passed beneath a streetlamp, and this time Mélisande saw clearly what had unsettled her. Jasmine’s feet weren’t touching the earth at all.
A man passed close by on a bicycle. He didn’t react at all. Mélisande glanced around, troubled — how could she be the only one seeing this? She looked back toward Jasmine.
Suddenly the woman stopped walking. Mélisande felt her heart race. Jasmine slowly turned her head, and her gaze landed directly on Mélisande.
The young woman froze. The distance between them was considerable, but Jasmine seemed to have no doubt at all about exactly who she was looking at. Their eyes met, and in that instant, Mélisande had a strange, certain feeling — Jasmine knew that she had just seen something she was never meant to see.
Mélisande wanted to run, but she held herself back, not entirely sure why, except that she was afraid Jasmine would realize just how terrified she truly was. She turned down another street and ran the rest of the way home.
Chapter Three: The Piece of Black Cloth
Doris was preparing dinner when Mélisande walked in.
“You went out for three things, not a tour of the whole neighborhood.”
Mélisande quickly set the bag down on the table. “I walked slowly.”
Doris looked at her. “What’s wrong with you? You’re out of breath.”
For a moment, Mélisande considered telling her aunt what she’d just seen, but the words felt absurd even before she could say them out loud. She began unpacking the groceries instead, hoping to avoid further questions.
One afternoon, Doris announced she had to go out. “I’m visiting a friend. I probably won’t be back until late afternoon.”
Nearly an hour later, someone knocked at the door. Mélisande came out of her room. “Who is it?” She opened the door and froze.
Jasmine.
Today, nothing about her seemed unusual. Mélisande found herself looking, despite herself, at Jasmine’s sandals. Jasmine noticed the glance. A faint smile crossed her face.
“Are you alone?”
“My aunt is nearby.”
Jasmine glanced quickly around as she stepped inside. “Doris isn’t here.” It wasn’t a question.
Mélisande felt her unease deepening. “What did you see the other night?”
“Nothing. I didn’t see anything.”
This time, Jasmine’s smile faded. “I know you’re lying. But if you managed to see me that night, when no one else around you saw anything at all, then you’re not like them.”
She slid a hand into her pocket and pulled out a small piece of black cloth. Jasmine held it out.
“Take it.”
“Why?”
“Just take it.”
“I don’t want it.”
Jasmine looked down at the cloth, then back up at her. “Put it under your mattress tonight.”
Mélisande knew immediately that something was wrong. Jasmine grabbed her hand and pressed the cloth into it, then closed her fingers around it. “You’ll understand later.”
She turned toward the door, adding, “Mélisande — the next time you see something others can’t, don’t just stand there watching.” And then she left.
Chapter Four: The First Journey
That evening, just before bed, Mélisande sat on her bed with the piece of cloth between her fingers. She should have thrown it away. And yet, ever since that night in the street, one question had consumed her: what had she actually seen?
In the end, her curiosity won out over her fear. She lifted her mattress and placed the cloth underneath.
In the middle of the night, Mélisande’s eyes snapped open. Someone had just spoken her name, close to the bed. She sat up with a start.
Jasmine stood at the foot of the bed.
“How did you get in here?”
“Get up. Come out of your room.”
Mélisande stood — and her blood ran cold. Someone was lying in her bed. She stepped closer and recognized her own face. It was her. Her body still lay beneath the sheet, eyes closed, breathing normally.
“What have you done to me?”
“Nothing. Your body is sleeping.”
Mélisande looked at her body again. Every instinct told her to stay. But Jasmine had already passed through the closed door without opening it. Mélisande followed. The two of them vanished, then reappeared in a wide courtyard where several women had already gathered.
Mélisande recognized one of them immediately — a woman who sold vegetables at the market. Another lived not far from Doris’s house. She stood there, stunned. These women lived perfectly ordinary lives during the day. And yet here they were, in the middle of the night, without their bodies.
Jasmine placed a hand on her shoulder. “From now on, you’re going to learn a great many things.”
Mélisande shook her head. “I don’t want to learn anything.”
An older woman laughed. “Almost all of us said that, the first night.”
Mélisande wanted to leave, but she didn’t know the way back. Jasmine showed her how to focus on her own body in order to find it again. “No matter how far you travel,” she explained, “your body remains your point of return.”
Chapter Five: The Second Life
After that first night, Mélisande swore she would never do it again. And yet, in the days that followed, her fear gradually gave way to curiosity. When she finally agreed to go out again, Jasmine was already there waiting.
Mélisande discovered she could travel long distances while her body remained in bed. She could enter certain houses, observe people while they slept, and, most notably, learned it was possible to appear to someone within their own dreams. To the sleeper, it felt like an ordinary dream. But to Mélisande, she was truly, physically there.
Months passed. Mélisande began a career at a small insurance company downtown — not the job she’d once imagined for herself, but she didn’t have much choice. Her work mostly involved canvassing different neighborhoods to sell insurance contracts. The pay was low, and the situation had begun to genuinely irritate her.
One Monday morning, her supervisor called a quick team meeting. “We’re welcoming someone new today.” A young woman walked into the office. “This is Apolline. She’ll be working with all of you from now on.”
In the first few days, Mélisande paid her very little attention. And yet Apolline integrated quickly into the group. When the others complained about their supervisor, she laughed along without really joining in the meanness. Mélisande sometimes found this attitude irritating.
“Are you always like this?” she asked one day.
“Like what?”
“Always so calm.”
Apolline smiled. “Not always. If you saw me with my brothers, you’d change your mind.” Mélisande burst out laughing. It was one of the first times they’d truly talked. From then on, they began spending more time together, especially since they were often sent out on the same team. Apolline became a colleague Mélisande genuinely got along with.
Chapter Six: Apolline’s Faith
Mélisande learned that Apolline was a Christian. At first, she noticed it mostly through small habits — Apolline sometimes prayed quietly before eating. She often spoke about the church where she’d grown up and knew a great deal about religious matters, though she admitted herself that she wasn’t as devoted as she once had been.
“I don’t even remember how many Sundays it’s been since I’ve gone to church,” she confessed one day.
“Why not?”
Apolline shrugged. “Work, exhaustion, things to do at home. There’s always something.”
“And that doesn’t bother you?”
Apolline smiled faintly. “Sometimes it does.” Then her phone rang, and the conversation ended there.
Everything changed a few days later. That evening, their team had finished work late. Mélisande was sitting outside the office with two colleagues when a car slowed in front of the entrance. Apolline, who had been finishing up some paperwork inside, appeared a few seconds later. Her face lit up instantly.
“You’ve been here five minutes already. Why didn’t you call?”
“I wanted to see how long you’d make me wait.”
Apolline gave him a playful tap on the arm. “Liar!” The man smiled. Mélisande watched the exchange without quite understanding why she was watching so closely.
Apolline turned to her colleagues. “You’re still here?”
“We’re waiting for transport,” one of the women replied.
The man looked at the group. “Which direction are you all headed?” Each named her neighborhood. He thought for a moment. “I can drop two of you off. It’s barely out of my way.”
A few minutes later, Mélisande found herself in the back seat with another colleague, Apolline seated up front.
“By the way,” Apolline said, turning around, “I never properly introduced you. This is Amori.”
Amori smiled in the rearview mirror. “Nice to meet you.”
“My fiancé,” Apolline added.
Her fiancé, Mélisande thought, surprised.
“For almost two years now,” Apolline clarified. “She’s counting the days now,” Amori teased, “because you certainly aren’t counting anything.” They laughed. Mélisande watched them for a few seconds. There was an ease between them that she noticed immediately.
Chapter Seven: A Seed of Envy
The next morning, when Apolline arrived at work, Mélisande noticed something she’d never taken the time to observe before. Apolline seemed happy — not just that morning, but in her life. She had someone who thought about her, someone who made plans with her.
A thought crossed Mélisande’s mind. Why her? Why did Apolline get a man like Amori, while I had to fight for everything myself? What did Apolline have that she didn’t? Mélisande began looking at her differently, almost searching for something that would explain why Amori seemed to care for her so much. She found nothing.
One morning, Apolline arrived at work with a small smile she was visibly trying to hide.
“What’s going on?” a colleague asked.
“Nothing.”
“With that face? Something happened.”
Apolline smiled, her eyes evasive. “Amori came to see my parents yesterday.” The women around her reacted immediately. “Already?” Apolline nodded. “We’re starting to talk seriously.” Congratulations poured in. Mélisande smiled too. “That’s wonderful news.”
“Thank you.”
But while the others kept talking about dresses, ceremonies, and preparations, Mélisande felt something harden inside her. A few weeks earlier, Amori had simply been a man she found attractive. Now, every plan Apolline mentioned felt to Mélisande like a door slowly closing. Soon he would be her husband — and that thought had become unbearable.
Chapter Eight: Into His Dreams
The change in Mélisande was subtle. Apolline noticed nothing. During a day of canvassing, the two of them had walked through the neighborhood where Amori lived. Passing a house, Apolline had pointed it out casually. “That’s where Amori lives.” Mélisande had barely reacted that day, but she hadn’t forgotten either.
One night, lying in bed, Mélisande closed her eyes and thought of Amori. Then she did what she had learned to do long ago. When her eyes opened again, she was standing in Amori’s bedroom, watching him sleep deeply. In all these years, she had used what she knew only occasionally, never for something this deliberate. She looked at Amori, and he began to dream of her.
In his dream, they sat close together, talking and laughing like two people who had known each other for years. In the morning, Amori woke without understanding why he remembered her face so clearly. And when he came to pick up Apolline from work that same evening, his gaze lingered on Mélisande a little longer than usual. Mélisande noticed, but said nothing.
She returned to Amori’s dreams the following night. Each time, she added something — a walk, a closeness that didn’t exist in reality. After a week, Amori began to wait for these dreams without even admitting it to himself. What troubled him most was what he felt when he saw Mélisande during the day — a sense of déjà vu, as though they had shared moments he simply couldn’t place in his memory.
One evening, he came to pick up Apolline from work. Mélisande was standing nearby. Amori looked at her. “Wait — didn’t we run into each other at the restaurant near the beach this week?”
Mélisande understood immediately. The night before, in his sleep, she had joined him at that very restaurant. They had eaten together on the terrace, then walked along the beach for a few minutes.
“No,” she answered. “I haven’t been there this week.”
Amori looked surprised. “Are you sure?”
“Certain.”
Apolline looked between them. “Why? Did you see her there?”
Amori hesitated. “I thought I did.” He shook his head. “That’s strange. I could have sworn we even talked.”
Mélisande lowered her eyes to hide her smile. It was working.
Chapter Nine: The Slow Unraveling
Gradually, Amori’s behavior began to change. He called Apolline less. When she spoke about their wedding, he seemed distant, elsewhere.
“What’s been going on with you lately?” she asked him one evening. “You’ve been strange.”
“I’m just tired.”
Apolline didn’t push. She believed things would eventually sort themselves out. She had no idea that every night, Mélisande was taking up a little more space in her fiancé’s mind. Through her repeated returns to his dreams, Mélisande no longer simply created false memories there — gradually, the emotions Amori felt while asleep began following him into his waking hours. He no longer knew where this attraction had come from. To him, it simply seemed to have been born within himself.
Two days later, he sent her his first message. Mélisande stared at the screen for a long time. She no longer needed to visit him every night. Amori had just taken the first step on his own.
After that first message, things moved quickly. He found more and more reasons to write to Mélisande. Apolline noticed nothing. For Mélisande, though, this still wasn’t enough. Amori thought of her, but he was still engaged to Apolline. And as long as Apolline remained in his life, Mélisande knew he could still return to her. She decided it was time to deal with the real obstacle.
Chapter Ten: The Grease of a Dead Hyena
One night, Mélisande went to see Jasmine. As before, the other women were already gathered when she arrived.
“Is this about the wife of the man you visit at night?” Jasmine asked.
Mélisande hesitated. “I want her gone from his life.”
Jasmine motioned to one of the women present. The woman stood and returned moments later with a small box, which Jasmine handed to Mélisande.
“Take it.”
Inside was a small quantity of dark, thick grease. A strong odor rose from it.
“What is it?”
Jasmine answered calmly. “Grease from a dead hyena.”
She instructed Mélisande only that she needed to mix a very small amount into a meal she would share with Apolline.
“And if I eat some too?” Mélisande asked.
“It won’t touch you. It’s her name that’s been called over this preparation. As long as she eats it, even if others touch the same food, only she will be affected.”
A few days later, Mélisande arrived at work with a meal she’d prepared at home. At lunchtime, she naturally invited Apolline to eat with her. Apolline accepted without hesitation. Before serving herself, Mélisande took the first bite and pushed the dish toward her. Apolline smiled and began serving herself, unaware of what awaited her.
Chapter Eleven: The Cough That Wouldn’t Stop
The first thing Apolline noticed was a small cough. At first, no one paid it any attention. A week later, it was still there. Mélisande watched her discreetly.
One morning, Apolline had to sit down after only a few minutes of walking. “Are you okay?” Mélisande asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve felt weak for a few days.”
Mélisande crouched beside her with a worried expression. “You should see a doctor.”
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
The tests showed nothing serious. Apolline was given medication. She continued working, but her condition didn’t improve. On the contrary, she grew progressively weaker.
Two days later, Apolline didn’t come to work. Mélisande called her.
“How are you feeling?”
Apolline’s voice was faint. “I can barely get out of bed anymore.”
“What do the doctors say?”
“They don’t really understand it. They’re giving me treatments, but I don’t see any difference.” She coughed for a long time. Mélisande hung up a few minutes later. Everything was proceeding exactly as she had wanted.
Meanwhile, Amori came around less and less often. At first he called several times a day. Then the calls grew shorter. Some evenings he claimed to be held up at work. Apolline didn’t yet know that several of those evenings ended with Mélisande. What had started in Amori’s dreams had now become entirely real.
Chapter Twelve: The Bible on the Table
One evening, after another coughing fit, Apolline sat on the edge of her bed, eyes filled with tears. She had truly begun to feel afraid. On a small table nearby sat a Bible she hadn’t opened in months. Apolline’s gaze lingered on it. A phrase suddenly crossed her mind: I shall not die, but live.
She picked up her Bible and began searching. A few minutes later, she found the passage and read it several times over. She held the Bible against her chest.
“Lord, I’ve drifted so far from you.” Her voice trembled. “I always said I’d come back when I had time. Now I have almost nothing left — except time.”
She cried for a long while that night, not only because of her illness. She realized just how far her relationship with God had slipped into the background of her life. The next morning, she quietly put on worship songs she used to listen to.
Gradually, a new routine took shape. Apolline began short periods of fasting, adjusted to her strength. She repeated: “Heal me, Lord, and I shall be healed.” She was no longer seeking only physical healing. She wanted to reclaim the closeness with God she had lost long ago.
Mélisande visited a few days later. Apolline was still very weak.
“Feeling any better?”
“Not really.” Apolline smiled faintly. “But I’ve been sleeping better these past few days.”
On the table, Mélisande noticed the open Bible. She stared at it. Apolline followed her gaze. “I’d forgotten how far I’d drifted from God. Since I’ve been here, I’ve started praying again.”
A silence passed. “That’s good,” Mélisande said.
For several weeks, Apolline remained unable to return to work, but something had shifted inside her. She no longer spent her days waiting fearfully for the next decline.
Chapter Thirteen: The Truth Comes Out
One evening, Amori came to see Apolline. He had been putting off the visit for several days, claiming work as an excuse. So when Apolline saw him walk in, she smiled despite her condition.
“Finally. I was starting to think you were avoiding me.”
Amori attempted a smile and sat beside her. Apolline noticed immediately that he kept his eyes lowered.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Amori, I’ve known you for over two years now. Don’t tell me nothing with that face. Did something happen?”
Amori took a breath. “Apolline, I don’t know how to tell you this.”
“Then just say it, however it comes.”
He remained silent for a few more seconds. “I think we should stop.”
Apolline frowned. “Stop what?”
“Us. Our relationship.”
For a moment, she thought she had misunderstood. “Wait — are you telling me you want to break up?”
Amori hesitated. Apolline stared at him, stunned. “Is this because of my illness?”
“No, it’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
He didn’t answer.
“Amori, we were planning our wedding just a few months ago. You told me we were going to build our life together. And now you’re telling me it’s all over. I know the timing is terrible — is there someone else?”
Amori said nothing. She felt tears rising in her eyes.
“How long?”
“I don’t want us to hurt each other more over this.”
“Were you already with her while you sat here telling me to hold on?”
Amori lowered his eyes. This time, tears fell. She had her answer.
“Get out, Apolline— get out, Amori.”
He stood there a moment, motionless, then rose. Apolline didn’t even look at him. When she heard the door close, she pressed a hand to her mouth to muffle her sobs. Two years had just collapsed in a matter of minutes.
When her tears finally calmed, her eyes fell on the Bible. She picked it up. “Lord, I don’t have the strength to carry this too. I’m leaving it with you.”
Chapter Fourteen: A Slow Recovery
A few weeks later, Apolline’s condition slowly began to change. The cough was still present, but less violent on some days. One afternoon, a former colleague came to visit. After a few minutes of conversation, the woman fell strangely silent.
“What is it? Tell me.”
The woman hesitated. “You know Amori’s seeing someone?”
“I suspected as much. Do you know who?”
The silence that followed gave Apolline a sudden, sinking feeling.
“Who?”
“Mélisande.”
For a few seconds, Apolline thought she had misheard. “Since when?”
“I don’t know exactly.” The betrayal hurt her almost more than the breakup itself.
Mélisande soon learned, through a colleague, that Apolline knew. She had expected a phone call, an accusation, insults. Nothing came. Worse still, Mélisande learned that Apolline was beginning to regain her strength. Her fear took a new shape. If Apolline recovered completely, she might return to work. Amori — Mélisande no longer wanted to hear anything about her. She wanted to be certain that Apolline would never again pose a threat to her new relationship.
Chapter Fifteen: The Wall That Would Not Let Her In
That night, Mélisande left her body. She went straight to Apolline’s house. But when she tried to pass through the bedroom wall, she stopped short. Something was blocking her.
She tried another part of the house. Same thing. She could walk around it, but she couldn’t get inside. Never, since Jasmine had first taught her to leave her body, had a house resisted her like this.
Mélisande pressed harder. This time, as she tried to force her way through, she was violently thrown backward. She heard a voice coming from inside. Apolline was awake, and she was praying.
Mélisande approached again but stopped just short of that invisible boundary. Inside, the prayer continued. Then something seized her violently. Mélisande felt pain tear through her entire being. At that exact moment, in her own bedroom, her body began to suffocate. She snapped back into herself and sat up in bed, gasping for breath. Her chest ached. She stayed disoriented for several long seconds. This hadn’t happened to her since her earliest years with Jasmine.
She had no idea that, from that night on, something had already begun making its way back toward her.
Chapter Sixteen: The Question That Wouldn’t Leave
The weeks passed, but one question kept troubling Mélisande: why hadn’t Apolline died? The preparation Jasmine had given her had clearly taken effect. Apolline had grown so weak she could no longer work. For a while, Mélisande had expected to hear of her death any day. And yet the opposite was happening. Every update she received spoke of improvement. The cough, once daily, became rarer, and rarer still, until it disappeared entirely.
After some time, Apolline left the city. She had decided to move in with family members elsewhere. Mélisande received the news with relief.
A few months later, Amori married Mélisande. For Mélisande, the day felt like the culmination of everything she had set in motion months earlier. Amori had become her husband. Apolline had vanished from their lives. And no one around them truly knew how this story had begun. Even Amori still didn’t understand why his feelings had shifted so quickly.
Shortly after the wedding, Mélisande became pregnant. The news filled Amori with joy. The following months passed without incident. Mélisande genuinely began to believe she had left that old life behind her entirely. She went out at night much less often, and rarely saw Jasmine anymore. She wanted, now, to focus on her household and the child she was carrying.
Chapter Seventeen: The Cough Returns
A few weeks before her due date, she woke one morning with a slight irritation in her throat. She paid it no attention, coughed a couple of times, and went about her day. The next day, the cough returned. A week passed, and it was still there.
One evening, Mélisande was seized by a much more violent coughing fit. She had to sit down to catch her breath. Amori brought her water.
“Are you alright?”
Mélisande stared at the floor. That cough — she knew it. She had heard it for weeks at work. She had heard it over the phone, when Apolline could barely leave her bed anymore.
Over the following days, she began waking at night with a tightness in her chest. Amori insisted she see a doctor. The doctors first suspected a respiratory infection, then a pregnancy-related complication. She was prescribed treatment and rest.
One night, Mélisande went to see Jasmine. When she arrived, the other women were present.
“Are you sick?” Jasmine asked.
“I’ve been coughing. It’s what Apolline had too. Is she still alive?”
“Yes,” a seated woman murmured. “You should have left that woman alone.”
Mélisande turned. “What are you talking about?”
Jasmine raised a hand to silence the woman, then looked at Mélisande. “I gave you something to reach her. But no one can predict what happens when something that’s been sent can no longer reach its target.”
Mélisande shook her head. “No. That’s impossible.”
In the days that followed, she tried to convince herself Jasmine was simply trying to frighten her. But her condition continued to deteriorate.
Chapter Eighteen: The Delivery Room
Two weeks later, the first contractions began. Amori rushed her to the hospital. In the car, Mélisande coughed between every contraction. Once they arrived, the doctor quickly determined that her condition was more alarming than he’d initially thought. Her breathing was becoming difficult. The baby’s heart rate had begun to grow unstable.
Mélisande was placed in a delivery room while the medical team prepared. The pain intensified. Around her, the doctors’ voices blurred together. Her chest burned, and each coughing fit tore away what little strength she had left.
When she opened her eyes, she was standing. The pain was gone — so was the cough. For a moment, Mélisande believed it was finally over.
But when she turned around, she saw what stood in front of her.
Her own body lay on the bed. The doctors moved frantically around it. She knew this sensation. She had lived it hundreds of times before.
She had just left her body.
She rushed immediately to the bed. All she needed to do was return — she knew how. She closed her eyes and focused.
Nothing.
Her body no longer responded. She tried to throw herself toward it. Something pushed her back. Panic rose in her chest. Let me back in. No one heard her. A doctor announced something to the others. A nurse attended to the baby. Mélisande turned toward the bed. The movements were growing faster.
She rushed toward the nurse. My child. She tried to touch the small body. Her hand passed straight through it.
“No.”
Around her, no one reacted. A heavy silence fell over the room.
It was already too late.
Chapter Nineteen: The Prison Without Walls
Amori left the hospital alone. Mélisande had died during childbirth. The child had not survived either.
Mélisande remained in that room for a long time. Only one thought came to her.
Jasmine. If anyone could understand what was happening to her, it was her. She eventually found her. When Jasmine saw Mélisande, her face changed instantly.
“I can’t get back into my body. I’ve tried, over and over. I can’t even feel it anymore.”
“Where is your body?”
“At the hospital. They said I was dead. So why am I still here?” Mélisande asked. “Bring me back, Jasmine. You taught me how to leave. You have to be able to bring me back.”
Jasmine shook her head slowly. “Not this time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Every other time, your body was alive. That’s why you could always find your way back to it.”
“Then what’s going to become of me?”
“A spirit without a body, most likely,” Jasmine answered.
Mélisande felt fear rising up through her. Jasmine finally turned away.
“Where are you going?” Mélisande asked.
“Wherever I need to go. And as for you, Mélisande — you’re going to have to discover what remains, when there’s no longer any way back.”
With those words, she walked away.
Epilogue: What Remains
And so Mélisande began to wander, from street to street, from house to house, invisible to the eyes of the living.
At the time, she had believed she’d discovered an extraordinary secret. She hadn’t understood that she’d simply taken the first step on a road that would, one day, become her own prison.
You can never build true happiness on suffering you have deliberately inflicted on someone else. In the endless coveting of another’s life, you can end up losing your own.
— The End —
